


Less Than Legendary

by peacesigngirl21



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bede fight club continues, F/M, Getting Together, I just want Hop to be confident, Mutual Pining, you're amazing Hop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27381130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacesigngirl21/pseuds/peacesigngirl21
Summary: Hop was always surrounded by greatness. Just one time, it would be nice to be great, too.Hop deals with the emotional aftermath of losing to Bede. Gloria tries to help, but some things have to be dealt with alone.
Relationships: Hop/Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 1
Kudos: 53





	Less Than Legendary

**Author's Note:**

> pov: you're an American on election night staying up late writing Pokémon fanfiction and panicking
> 
> Also, why does this sunshine boy rule my life and wreck my emotions like this

Hop was always surrounded by greatness. Just one time, it would be nice to be great, too.

Growing up in Leon's shadow had not been easy, no matter how much Hop idolized his older brother. Leon had this inexplicable ability to do everything right the first time, without trying, and not once had he ever questioned his purpose in the world. Leon approached life at an easy stride, even if he had no idea where he was going--literally. Hop wanted more than anything to be exactly like Lee back then. Sometimes he still did.

Sometimes, the only time he felt like his own person was when he was with Gloria. Gloria moved to Postwick the day after Leon left for his Gym Challenge. Hop had spent most of that day crying on top of the wall that fenced in his house and watching a moving truck as it was steadily unloaded.

A little girl was following her mum back and forth from the house to the truck, accepting the small boxes or single items her mother handed her to carry inside. When she spotted Hop, she grabbed her mother's skirt and pointed excitedly.

It was only moments before she darted up the hill and stood before him, hands haughtily on her hips.

"Are you going to just sit there and watch, or are you going to help?" Gloria huffed. 

Hop gave one last violent sniff before following her down the hill to help unpack.

...

Three years later, Hop's brother was the Galar Champion, and he couldn't be more proud. He and Gloria were allowed to stay up late to watch the Finals at his house, stuffed Charizards held tightly to their chests. Hop's mum cried. He cried a little, too, but mostly from all his cheering.

"I'm going to be the Champion, too, one day!" he told Gloria confidently. She looked at him and then back to his brother on the telly.

"You'll have to beat Leon first," Gloria said. She fiddled with the Charizard on her lap. "He seems so strong."

"He's the strongest!" Hop agreed, glowing with pride. He wasn't going to get a lick of sleep tonight from all the leftover excitement. Maybe Gloria could stay the night, and they could go over all the battle's highlights.

Gloria leaned in close to his face, suddenly serious. "Do you really think you can beat him?"

Hop pretended to consider this question, but he already knew the answer. "Of course I can!" he said. "And you'll be right by my side, cheering me on!"

Gloria hesitated, looking uncertain. "But do you really want to?" she asked, more quietly, almost to herself.

Hop pretended not to hear. He already knew the answer.

...

Leon was back in Postwick two years later. Hop could barely contain his excitement, because Leon was there to present Gloria and himself with their starter Pokémon. He had been waiting for this moment all sixteen years of his life.

Despite this, Gloria's mum was not thrilled to see him at her doorstep at 5am. She sent him back home with a muffin and a consoling pat on the head.

He sat on the wall surrounding his house, chewing a bite of muffin and thinking about his first battle. Hop would obviously challenge Gloria after politely letting her choose her Pokémon first. Leon (and his mum) had told him to be a gentleman, and he would. Then he would stomp her starter into the ground (politely) as a fitting start to the tale of his legend. 

Hop really didn't account for the fact that Gloria would be a natural trainer, and that her Sobble would KO his Wooloo and his new Scorbunny. Honestly, even Leon looked a little surprised. 

After the battle, Hop saw Leon whisper something to Gloria with a serious expression on his face. Gloria glanced at Hop, but he only looked down, away from her eyes.

...

Hop could handle losing to Gloria. After all, losing was an integral part of battling. He may be Leon's kid brother, but he was not Leon, the unbeatable Champion.

Hop could handle losing to Gloria every single time. What he couldn't handle, though, was losing to Bede.

Hop returned his fainted Corvisquire into its ball, his head hanging in bitter defeat. He desperately wished he could tune out Bede's snickers as he counted the money owed and put it in the other trainer's upturned palm.

"You mean to tell me you're the so-called unbeatable Leon's brother?" Bede said, his face a twist of unmasked scorn. "You're even more pathetic than I thought. How can you even show your face to the Champion, knowing you're dragging his name through the mud by being this weak?"

Bede laughed and walked away, not waiting for a response. Hop didn't have one, anyway.

...

When Hop saw Gloria next, he really, really considered not saying anything to her, but he was too pathetic to even manage that. He watched silently as she battled the two Team Yell members blocking the path to Stow-on-Side. He could hardly stand just standing there. A double battle with him by Gloria's side would only slow her down, though, he knew now. So he waited for her to finish before slumping beneath her strong, questioning gaze.

Hop fell apart a bit in the conversation that followed. Something about Gloria always made him feel safe enough to open up.

He couldn't bear to wait for a response, though, so as soon as he finished lamenting his loss to Bede, he promised to try a new strategy--a number of new strategies--and ran off, reinvigorated. 

Hop could feel Gloria's eyes on his back, but he didn't turn around.

...

No matter what team Hop challenged her with, Gloria always won. Sometimes he wouldn't even manage to knock out a single one of her Pokémon. She was just that good. No, she was just that great.

When the smoke cleared, and the cheering paused, and Hop's Cinderace was out cold on the field, he really didn't know what he had expected.

Hop had grown up in the stifling shadow of Leon's greatness, yet he had somehow failed to recognize that same sheer talent in his best mate.

Without realizing it, Hop had fallen to his knees as he returned his fainted starter Pokémon back to its ball. The crowd was deafening.

Hop picked himself up off the ground, gathering up all his little pieces, and met Gloria's eyes. She was right in front of him, hand outstretched. Her cheeks were turning red from holding back her tears. 

Hop was crying, too, he knew, so he smiled with as much force as he could muster. He found it wasn't so difficult to smile at his best mate, sniffling in front of him.

"Gloria, mate, I'm glad it was you with me here today," he said, taking her hand. 

Gloria released his handshake a second later and threw her arms around his neck. Hop noticed he had grown a few inches taller than her over the months of training. It was no trouble to pick Gloria up and swing her around in a circle.

Losing to Gloria had always been relatively easy for Hop--the semifinals were no different. It helped that he could hear her giggles quite clearly over the stadium's cheers, while her chin rested on his shoulder.

...

Over the four years of their Gym Challenge, Hop had gained some measure of what Gloria was capable of. That was one reason why he didn't hesitate to leave her with a crazy-strong legendary dog Pokémon while he chased its companion to the Slumbering Weald. He knew she could handle it.

What he hadn't really considered, however, was if he could actually calm down Zamazenta. Well, he had been pretty convinced he could calm down Zamazenta--he just hadn't worked out how to yet.

So, obviously, he called Gloria. He hoped Zamazenta's angry, borderline feral barks didn't travel too well over the Rotom phone.

He held his hands up to the approaching legendary Pokémon. "I'm not going to hurt you, Zamazenta! Please calm down!"

The shield Pokémon growled low in its throat, head bent down to level with Hop's chest. Hop could hear Gloria's voice, a few octaves higher than normal, getting closer to the heart of the Weald.

Zamazenta looked up at the source of the noise, an expression of fear clear on its face. "I won't let anyone hurt you," Hop murmured, meeting its eyes. "Please let me help you, Zamazenta."

The Pokémon stared at him hard as Gloria's footsteps slowed to a stop. Hop heard her take a small, stuttering breath.

The shield Pokémon took a small step back and appeared to nod in agreement. Hop reached out hesitantly to stroke its scruff, and the legendary dog did not flinch away. He pulled out an Ultra ball from his bag as slowly as possible before tossing it, clumsily, at the Pokémon's head. The ball clicked once before stilling.

Gloria waited for Hop to steady himself, because his heart was still pounding out of his chest, and honestly, his entire body was shaking. When she sensed it would be a while before Hop could speak, she simply said, "Hop, you're amazing."

Hop let out a bark of a laugh, staring at her in shock. "Well, I'm pretty chuffed to hear that from you of all people, Gloria."

Gloria stepped forward, into his personal space, and put a steadying hand on his wrist. "I never would have run after a rampaging Zamazenta alone," she said. Her fingers slipped into Hop's hand, and he gripped them like a lifeline. "I also wouldn't have calmed it down without a battle. Because that's pretty stupid."

Hop caught himself still staring at her and tried to glance away, but Gloria caught his chin in her other hand.

"What I'm trying to say is--I guess, what I already said is--you're amazing, Hop."

Gloria squeezed his hand with an open smile, and Hop felt himself stop thinking as he put a hand on the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his.

Hop had always been surrounded by greatness, and sometimes, he felt a little lost in the midst of it all. He had hoped to follow in his brother's footsteps for as long as he could remember, since the day before he met his soulmate, and he had watched it all fall apart at her feet. Hop had pursued greatness across the entire Galar region, but it ended up finding him in the course of one long, legendary day, in the woods next to Postwick, with Gloria in his arms and a new goal in his heart--to help all Pokémon.


End file.
